Chalo wrote:How is the bump steer now? That's a big offset of the contact patch relative to the steering knuckle.

Well, it really doesn't feel much different in terms of bump steering as it did before; its always had bump steering before the suspension went in so I don't really know any different after riding this trike for 1700 miles.

That's reassuring. I reckoned that the longer the lever arm to bump steer with, the more pronounced the effect would be.

I also wonder (because the suspension is fully independent with no anti-sway) whether the trike rolls noticeably more to the outside when turning.

Well, I guess one grows accustomed to things and we don't even realize they are there.

One side effect I noticed is that at higher speeds it takes more effort to turn the wheel so it kinda acts like a steering damper so keeps the trike centered a little better.

As for body roll:

Well, it has suspension so its obviously going to roll now regardless. I was expecting a boat, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this slow and progressive compression/roll to the outside like you would expect on a sporty car instead; and the way it feels now to me feels a lot more natural and way more predictable on the tight turns; mainly because I now have a sense of when the body starts to roll and how much as opposed to before where it was: no roll, keep turning... no roll, keep turning... no roll, keep turning.. OH SHIT.... and BAM it snap-flips on you and you're done. I would venture to say that a sway bar on a lightweight trike like this will make it feel really harsh, that is the big issue with sway bars on cars, you go too stiff and the thing doesn't roll but then you have oversteering (or understeering) all over the place and very hard ride over bumpy terrain. If anything, and before adding swabars, I would lower the spring rate a hair or two... and see how it handles. IMO with the current spring rates I don't think it needs any swaybars at all. Plus those extra 3 inches on each side really help on preventing flipping the trike.

All in all it is a great and worthy upgrade considering the constrains that were placed upon the designer. I know there is no replacement for a frame built with a long arm double wishbone etc... but between this and unsuspended I am going with this hands down, any day of the week. It is a huge improvement that its simply hard to describe unless you've been pounding the pavement @30 mph on an unsuspended trike for 1700 miles. Once you try this there is no going back IMO.

Now, I feel it really needs some dampening. On my way from work today I took my trike up to 50 mph and while it was a blast to ride and not feel the constant pounding, even on rough roads, you can tell there is nothing stopping those springs from bouncing all over when the pavement gets really rough, and the rebound dampening can be significant downfall on the stock spring setup b/c it can potentially bounce you back with as much force as it went in thus launching you into space... Specially so with low profile tires like I run on my trike (I run Schwalbe Tryker 20x1'5 on the front and I love those tires) with nothing to dampen the spring force.

From my experience up to 40 mph, it's really stable, more than without the suspension.

Gman could probably comment on higher speed.

Yes, its pretty darn stable, like I stated on my initial review: it is night and day compared to how it was before. And I've already taken the trike up to 52mph and the experience can be summed up in one word: a dream.

The Cyclone 3000W has been working flawlessly for me, even pumped to 90A for a respectable 6.5kW of power I've only replaced one BMX chain at 900 miles and the primary 10speed chain still doesn't even show signs of stretch at close to 1700 miles now. Works exactly as I designed it.

How fast have you gone with 10kW?

G.

evolutiongts wrote:

gman1971 wrote:

evolutiongts wrote:Thats great news, I can't wait to receive mine.

Cool. Have you been riding the trike?

G.

Yeah.

Ended up ditching the Cyclone 3000W for a rear hub motor MXUS 3000W 3T with Sabvoton 72V150A sinewave controller. Pulling the full 130-150A on acceleration, 10000W+ is quite a rush! =)

I'm overwhelming the trike with power, now is time for stability and safety.

Suspension Update:
Finally got both air shocks installed on my trike. I ran one side for a while, and it was an improvement on the side where they are installed, but adding the 2nd one made a huge improvement. No more squeaks either, the original 750# springs fake shocks end up squeaking after a few days of use.

I am running both at 90psi (me sitting on the trike) and they are super cushy and provide awesome ride comfort, even when going over the big stuff too. And these air shocks now control rebound rather nicely so its a worthy upgrade if you are looking for perfection from this kit. So no suspension to suspension was like an 80-90% improvement, these air shocks get that last 10-20% out of this kit.

Hope Adam can get these true air shocks OEM as opposed to the 750lbs springs.

Here you can see the air shocks installed on my trike.

I now have very close to 2200 miles as of the writing of this post. So yes, I am racking around 500 miles or so every month on the trike, rain or shine, and the suspension hasn't bent, no bolts have come off, nothing has broken or gone out of alignment... its just rock solid; well, sort of expected from ~2cm thick blocks of solid AL that the thing is made out of.

Nice!! If mine were an indication It should be around 2 weeks and change.

Today upon getting home I added a bit more pressure to the shocks, upped them to 75lbs (from 50, without rider, and trike on jackstands) and I've also inflated front tires to 80 PSI. I'll see how it rides tomorrow on my way to work. This has me thinking about adding a pneumatic pump so I can adjust shock pressure and ride height without having to dismount to adjust... hmmm maybe some future mod?

Those wheels were so unbalanced that it made the trike unpleasant to ride above 20 mph

I installed the wheels on my truing stand then "static balanced" each one with those weight purchased on Ebay ( the back is double side tape and they are 5grams ea )
I added 45 grams on this wheel and 20 grams on the other one.

I only had balancing issues with heavy wheels or motorcycle wheels so far. This should solve your problem.

Last edited by adam333 on Apr 17, 2017 5:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

adam333 wrote:Those wheels were so unbalanced that it made the trike unpleasant to ride above 20 mph

I installed the wheels on my truing stand then "static balanced" each one with those weight purchased on Ebay ( the back is double side tape and they are 5grams ea )
I added 45 grams on this wheel and 20 grams on the other one.

I only had balancing issues with heavy wheels or motorcycle wheels so far. This should solve your problem.

Yeah I noticed that, before with the lighter bicycle wheels and tires it didn't shimmy.

I installed mine a few weeks ago, but have not ridden it yet. A friend of mine is ordering the proper compressor for his shop, and I can skip the expense of purchasing one if I can wait for him to get the tool.

I have not let the air out of the shocks, either. In your opinion, would it be safe to ride around without added air pressure at low speeds? (< 25 mph) I do not want to damage the components.